wrestling and library

Saturday was Luke's first wrestling tournament of this year. He got third place in his division of 3rd/4th graders who weigh between 69 and 73 (I think I have those numbers correct). His first match, he easily pinned is opponent. His second match he had to work a little harder, but ended up pinning the girl who should not have been participating in this sport to begin with (yep, still on that soap box and will be until girls stop wrestling). He had her in such a tight grip, her face was turning purple. I hate it that boys have to wrestle girls. It's not respectful at all. I always hope, as horrible as this sounds, that the boys seriously hurt the girls so that they can't wrestle anymore since obviously these girls don't have parents with the common sense to teach their girls to be GIRLS. Anyway -- back to Luke. His third match was to the 2nd place boy in the following picture. He lost that one pretty quickly because he was too far away when he tried to take him down. And he lost his fourth match against the 1st place boy because that boy is REALLY good even though he is awfully skinny. I was so proud of Luke, especially in the first two matches when he was listening to his coaches and following their directions precisely.Today I got to spend some time with Makenzie, Luke, Gavin, and Makayla :-) We went to the "big" library (the only one open on Sundays, I think -- and the only one with elevators). We picked out movies, got a couple books for fun, got some books for Makenzie's research paper, and colored some pictures -- and rode the elevators a few times :-)
Before we left, I said it was so sunny that I needed sunglasses. One of Makayla's favorite sentences today was "ME, TOO!" So I found this pair of perfect pink shades that Makenzie had outgrown. SO VERY CUTE!!!

spoiled

I have been blessed with unexpected presents this week! Tuesday, I watched a friend's kids while she worked for a couple hours. When she finished work, we had lunch and playtime. She surprised me with these beautiful flowers (purple tulips are one of my all-time favorites!):
Then today when I dropped Seth off at my sister-in-law's, she gave me this butterfly wax warmer (because she knows I LOVE butterflies and good smells):
It's so exciting to me to see pieces of beauty like this, both the gifts and the spirit of giving from two treasured ladies :-) I'm hoping they know how VERY much I appreciate their generosity!!!

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The reason I was dropping Seth off with Amanda was that I was going to the chiropractor AGAIN. I've gone now six or seven times, and I think it's helping. But then again, I just had a four-day headache/neck ache. I keep blaming it on things like the weather and sleeping on the wrong side. I try to do any little thing to not be in pain. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. Either way, there are still four children who need to be taken care of, laundry, dishes, cleaning, church, a job . . . Someday life will slow down, but I'm determined to enjoy every single event along the way, whether I'm physically comfortable or not. True migraines only happen every two or three months, the kind that send me to bed before I fall down and someone has to drag my overweight self to my bed. It sounds a little strange, but I'm thankful for my physical weaknesses in a way. Because I have celiac disease, I am very sympathetic to people with dietary restrictions. Of all the diseases "available," mine is one of the easiest to deal with. No medicine, no doctors, just a gluten-free diet. Headaches are painful and annoying, but almost every day I can still function and do everything that needs to be done. Some other pains would be completely debilitating, but headaches are usually manageable or at least I've gotten used to them to a degree. They also make me a little more understanding, but also logical, when my kids say they have headaches occasionally. I know exactly how they feel and what they need to make them feel better.

My "overweight self" won't be overweight for too much longer, I'm hoping. Counting calories and walking on the treadmill as often as possible (which won't include today because I have a cold that has settled pretty solidly in my upper chest/throat, making walking fast too uncomfortable) has made ten pounds drop off so far. Unfortunately for the weight loss, but fortunately for the checkbook, Walmart has started carrying gluten-free treats at 1/3 less the cost as the natural foods store. Chocolate covered pretzels, vanilla and chocolate sandwich cookies (similar to Oreos, sortof), crackers similar to Ritz (not buttery, but the same shape and texture). YUMM!!!!! I just have to dole them out over time instead of eating them all in a day or two :-) Self-discipline isn't one of my strengths, but I'm getting a little better at it.

Tonight is the first Buddy Walk meeting. I'm nervous to be in charge of such a large undertaking, but I think I'm pretty much all organized and ready to delegate the work to other people in the group. We'll see how that goes if very many "other people in the group" come to the meeting to volunteer :-)

busy busy

I'm not really sure what the stories behind these pictures are, but they're cute :-)


Joel had a jr. high band concert at school. They did a good job.He's the first trumpet player -- right in the middle of the picture.
One night I went into the boys' room to take Luke to the bathroom and found them like this -- Luke, Seth, AND Scooby Doo all in Luke's bed :-)
I haven't been posting lately probably because I'm so scattered. I've been dealing with serious neck pain and headaches for a really long time, so I started going to the chiropractor. I've seen him now five times and thought I was all fixed -- until yesterday morning I woke up feeling like my head was going to explode and like my neck wasn't completely connected to my body correctly. This morning was the same thing :-( This is very disappointing because the chiropractor was my last resort. I've tried medicines, special pillows, herbal rubs (like ben-gay), getting more sleep -- nothing has worked. And now neither is the chiropractor. Oh well, now I have a good excuse for my grouchiness :-)

This last week was a pretty great week. Joel only had one final exam for the third quarter, so we got to spend some time together. We went to lunch two days in a row, went to a movie, and went book shopping. FUN! He's doing such a good job on his grades this first year of jr. high! I enjoy rewarding him for his hard work :-)

braids and wrestling

Makenzie's hair is super long now, so I decided to put it in braids so that her hair would look permed the next day. She looked a little silly going to bed with ten braids all over her head.
But she looked pretty cute with wavy hair.
Joel had a little wrestling meet on Saturday here in town. There were no weigh-ins because it wasn't a real tournament. They called it a "jamboree." Seth just wanted to "sleep" in between the bleacher seats.
I'm not a good photographer, and I don't have a professional camera, so my action shots are almost useless, but this is a picture of Joel getting ready to pin his opponent:
And this is a picture of the ref slapping the mat to call the pin :-)
I was so excited for Joel. He did a GREAT job in this match! He was agressive and very technical (at least from my know-nothing-much-at-all-about-wrestling perspective). Joel isn't a speedy wrestler; he's more methodical. The funniest part of the match (which you can watch HERE if you'd like) was Joel pulling his opponent back in the ring. He told me later that while he was dragging the other guy, he was saying, "Get back in here." He makes me chuckle!

(p.s. -- after watching the video of the match, I learned the lesson that I must be silent when taking a video!)

Seth's good ears test

Seth has had his hearing checked every few months for most of his life. He barely passed the newborn hearing screening, and he barely skates by on the hearing tests with his audiologist. He wore hearing aids for awhile last year, but he kept taking them out and throwing them across the room. The audiologist suggested that Seth have a sedated study that tests the part of the ear and brain that translates sound. Wednesday was the day.

I had planned on waking Seth up at 6:25 a.m. so that we could leave at 6:30, but he decided to wake up on his own at 6 a.m.

"Bink, Mom."
"I'm sorry, Seth. I can't give you a drink until after the test."
"NO SORRY!!! BINK!!!"

He forgot about needing a drink when we got to the hospital. He charmed the information desk receptionist, telling her all about his green Buddy Walk shirt. Then we got to go to the pediatric unit where Seth got his own bed. I didn't take a camera, so I took a couple pictures with my phone.
That's Scooby Doo in the bed with him :-) We also brought a Scooby Doo dvd for entertainment (aka -- distraction).

The nurse put numbing cream on both of Seth's wrists and gave him a "drink" of Versed (sleepy medicine) to get him ready for an i.v. The first try at putting in the i.v. didn't work, but the nurse kept trying and trying. Seth only said "ow" once, then just laid there, still and quiet. The second try at putting in the i.v. was much faster and worked. The nurse started the sedation meds, and soon Seth was unable to speak clearly (which made me laugh because he doesn't talk very clearly to begin with).

The test takes a couple hours, so the audiologist, the nurse, and I sat there chatting while they monitored the machines. When the test was finished, the audiologist told me that there is nothing wrong with Seth's ears or the part of the brain that receives sound. In other words, Seth does not need hearing aids. This also means that Seth probably just hasn't felt like cooperating with all the hearing tests he goes through when he's awake. Or maybe he takes longer to respond even though he hears fine. His brain just needs some time to process the sounds that he hears. Probably a combination of both of those theories.

Seth woke up after another hour or so, sweet as can be. He was unbelievably brave and tough. The nurse said that he was a perfect patient!

This is how I found Luke and Seth this evening, watching netflix in Luke's bed:

Such sweet boys!!

a great Saturday

Yesterday was SUCH a good day!! Luke had a basketball game, and his team played REALLY well!!! They kept getting control of the ball, shooting baskets, and actually MAKING the shots!! Luke made FIVE baskets!! It was very exciting -- their first WIN of the season :-)

Then Seth and I went to soccer. I was concerned about how soccer was going to go because his regular coach wasn't going to be there (she had her own soccer game). But as soon as we got there, another mom from the Down syndrome group (her 19-year-old daughter has Down syndrome) got Seth's attention and got him running around and kicking the ball. She kept him moving for the first half of the hour, but then he slipped away from her and ran to me.

This picture is from the 2010 Buddy Walk, but it's the only picture I have of our friend Lindsey.
Lindsey was having trouble on the field because there weren't enough coaches to give one-on-one attention this week, so I played soccer with her. Seth, Lindsey, and I ran and kicked and ran some more for the last half of soccer time. It was so much fun!! (and it burned off so many calories that I might have made up for all the birthday overeating I did earlier in the week)

My sweet little nephew Gavin decided to give Seth this storm trooper helmet:
Amanda brought it to Luke's basketball game and said that Gavin told her that he wanted to give it to Seth because Seth likes it so much. I almost cried, he's so sweet. He liked the helmet, too, but he wanted Seth to have it anyway. And when it was time to leave the basketball game, Makayla saw the helmet and told me, "That's for Seth!" SUCH sweet little kids :-)

At Gavin's birthday party last night, Jason brought up how Gavin and Makayla were disappointed when Amanda didn't have to work on Wednesday because I wouldn't be coming over to play with them. When Amanda said that she didn't work again this next Wednesday, Gavin and Makayla both said, "AWWWWWWW!!!!!" That made me feel great! (although I know they really want to be with their mom the most, it's nice to know that they enjoy being with me sometimes, too :-)

(p.s. -- at the very bottom of the page is my weight loss ticker. TEN POUNDS so far!!!! so excited!!! friday, one of my managers noticed that i was losing weight. that makes me feel SOOOOOO good :-)

cupcakes

Makenzie told me that she wanted to take cupcakes to school tomorrow for her birthday lunch treat. She specifically asked for store-bought cupcakes with the little rings in them, so I went to the two grocery stores to see how much they cost and what rings they had because I thought it was the rings that she wanted. Wrong! It was the cupcakes. Mine aren't soft enough, apparently. So Jason went to the store to buy the on-sale leftover Valentine's cupcakes. Turns out, they were on sale this morning when I was at the store, but not this afternoon when Jason went to buy them :-(
These are the cupcakes I made, thinking they would be cuter than the ones with little kid rings in them or the leftover Valentine's ones. But they were too dry for the princess birthday treat. I must admit that I might need to find a new vanilla cake recipe because these were dryer than cupcakes made from a cake mix.
We went to the parent-teacher meeting for Seth this afternoon. His teacher said that she really likes Seth and that he is a super-cute kid. He's not exactly cooperating for his teachers in the educational requests, but he is cooperating in following directions such as "let's go use the restroom," "it's time to put on your snow clothes for recess," "walk nicely down the hall in a line," and "please come over to the circle with the rest of the class." He's not usually being mean to anyone (except when people invade his space; but even then, he's often yelling at them instead of trying to beat them up -- this is GOOD because Luke has taught him to be too physical). He knows his letters very well, but won't or can't write them at all. He does hold a pencil correctly, which really impressed his teacher. He is probably at the top of his class if regular "grades" were to be given, but it's REALLY hard to get him to do any kind of school work. His teacher commented that it's pretty noisy in their classroom, so maybe it's hard for Seth to concentrate with all the distractions. We're going to try using his basketball headphones in school and see if that helps him at all. Overall, he's doing pretty well and everyone is glad to be with Seth each day. I can't ask for much more than that right now.

Seth loves these play glasses (although he refuses to wear his real glasses at home). He was watching movies while Dad took a little snooze.